The objectives of this project are two-fold:

1) to reduce the impact of the disease on small-holder farmers and 2) to improve quality of life in poor rural communities by improving knowledge and providing access to sustainable, region-specific control strategies.A suite of state-of-the-art approaches is proposed to address a series of issues:

• Country-specific risk factors and economic impact of tropical theileriosis will be determined by performing molecular epidemiological studies to establish the prevalence and seasonal activity of ticks in endemic regions. The population structure of T. annulatta will be defined by micro- and mini-satellite typing of field isolates.

• Non-residual, safe and natural acaricidal compounds based on plant extracts will be used to address food safety concerns. Ticks derived from a tick colony in Adnan Menderes University will be treated with these compounds to determine their efficacy alone and in combination with silver nanoparticles using nanotechnology. In vivo experiments and field-based testing will ensue.

• Potential resistance/tolerance of autochthonous cattle breeds will be determined by QTL analysis to identify genes conferring disease-resistance and/or tolerance using high throughput-sequencing and SNP-based genotyping.

• The molecular target of buparvaquone is known and a combined PCR/sequencing and allele-specific PCR approach will be used to detect resistant parasites in field populations.

• Efficient, region-specific live, attenuated vaccines will be developed to be used in disease control campaigns by prolonged in vitro cultivation of T. annulata-infected cells. Attenuation of each region-specific cell line vaccine candidate will be determined using attenuation markers.

• Parasite-derived antigens able to induce a transmission-blocking response against T. annulata will be identified by RNA-Seq of the mid-gut of infected Hyalomma spp. ticks.